A Pair of Ivies Earn Preseason NCBWA Honors

Photos and portions of this story courtesy of Cornell
Athletic Communications and Dartmouth Athletics
Communications

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The National Collegiate
Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) honored two Ivy League
baseball players in its preseason awards, announced earlier this
week.

A pair of sophomore relievers were listed on the NCBWA preseason
Stopper of the Year watch list in Cornell's Kellen
Urbon and Dartmouth's Thomas Olson. Urbon
was also named to the NCBWA preseason All-America third team.

Nominations for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award were made by
baseball sports information/media relations contacts. The initial
list will be updated with a mid-season release the week of April
16, including the national saves leaders. At the conclusion of the
regular season, the Division I national saves leader and four other
relief pitching standouts will be selected as finalists and
released Wednesday, June 5, prior to start of NCAA Super Regional
tournament competition. The NCBWA’s All-America Committee
will then select a winner from the list of finalists. The ninth
annual winner will be announced in Omaha on Saturday, June 15, the
opening day of the College World Series.

Last year, Olson was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman
All-American by Collegiate Baseball after posting a 1.69 ERA and
six saves in 37.1 innings as a rookie. The native of Manhattan,
Kan., was also a second-team All-Ivy selection while allowing
opponents to hit just .194, striking out 22 batters and walking
only four. In his 17 appearances, Olson did not allow the first
batter he faced to get a hit all season, and he threw at least two
innings 11 times.

Urbon is coming off a freshman season in which he set program
records with nine saves and a 0.47 earned run average. He was
unanimously selected as both the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and
the lone relief pitcher on the All-Ivy first-team, then was later
selected as a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and placed
on the NCBWA's Division I Freshman All-America First Team.

Urbon posted a 3-1 record through 21 appearances, including three
extended outings of five innings or more. He surrendered just an
unearned run in 6.1 innings of relief April 29 at Princeton in a
must-win game that Cornell won in the 12th inning as well as five
scoreless innings in Game 3 of the Ivy League Championship Series
against Dartmouth, earning the victory after Chris Cruz's walk-off
home run in the 11th inning sent Cornell to the NCAA
Tournament.

Cornell and Dartmouth each kick off their seasons on Friday, March
1, at UMES and Minnesota, respectively. The Ivy League slate begins
on Saturday, March 30.